Michael Tait accuser responds after pastor posed for photo with former Newsboys frontman
One of the men who accused former Newsboys lead singer Michael Tait of sexual assault is criticizing a pastor who posed for a photo with the contemporary Christian musician and appeared to equate the artist's actions to a “stumble.”
Nathan Mudd, pastor of Ottawa Community Church in Ottawa, Kansas, shared a photo of himself with Tait on social media last week. Mudd has since made his Facebook and Instagram profiles private.
But a screenshot of his Facebook post, shared on Threads, shows the two men posing together with this caption: “Just gave Michael Tait a hug! So glad to see him at a KC MO [Kansas City, Missouri] gathering for pastors. We all stumble in many ways but in Christ our past is God’s weapon!!!”
Last year, Tait faced multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and substance abuse, and an extensive investigation was published by The Roys Report. The investigation spanned more than two years with interviews with over 50 sources. The accusers said Tait engaged in predatory behavior while they were in their early 20s. They all described similar patterns of grooming, alcohol use and non-consensual physical contact.
Randall Crawford, one of many men who have come forward in recent years to allege sexual abuse by Tait, responded to Mudd’s post in a message that investigative journalist Julie Roys shared on X over the weekend.
“I’m one of the men who came forward about Michael Tait, and calling what happened a ‘stumble’ is exactly what is wrong with celebrity Christianity,” he wrote. “I believe in grace. I believe in forgiveness. But forgiveness is not the same thing as restoration to a platform.”
“Repentance requires accountability and Michael has never contacted me to apologize or ask my forgiveness for what he did to me,” Crawford added. “Yet pastors are already embracing him while survivors were left wondering where the Church was when we needed those open arms.”
Crawford’s allegations against Tait became public in July 2025, after Tait made a public statement. Crawford accused Tait of drugging and sexually assaulting him 25 years earlier. He said he blacked out after drinking alcohol and woke up to find Tait performing a sex act on him.
The Christian Post contacted Mudd for comment but did not receive a response by press time.
Crawford worries that “this becomes the predictable comeback story … the book, the interviews, the tour, and eventually another stage.” He insisted that Tait “can receive God’s grace without ever receiving another microphone.”
He urged Mudd and anyone else trying to rehabilitate Tait’s image to “Stop reducing serious allegations to a ‘stumble’” and “Stop taking one truth about grace and using it to erase everything Scripture teaches about repentance, justice, accountability, and protecting people.”
“Before the church rushes to restore the platform, maybe it should finally reach out to the people who say they were harmed,” he concluded.
Tait responded last year to a wave of allegations against him. By then, he had already stepped down as lead singer of Newsboys for unrelated reasons.
“I want to say I’m sorry to everyone I have hurt. I am truly sorry,” he said at the time.
“I have hurt so many people in so many ways, and I will live with that shameful reality the rest of my life.” He also admitted, “For some two decades, I used and abused cocaine, consumed far too much alcohol, and, at times, touched men in an unwanted sensual way.”
“I am ashamed of my life choices and actions, and make no excuses for them. I will simply call it what God calls it — sin,” Tait said.
Tait also expressed regret for deceiving those close to him. “[I] lied and deceived my family, friends, and even misled my bandmates about aspects of my life,” he said.
“I was, for the most part, living two distinctly different lives. I was not the same person on stage Sunday night that I was at home on Monday. I was violating everything I was raised to believe by my God-fearing Dad and Mom, about walking with Jesus and was grieving the very God I loved and sang about for most of my life,” Tait said.
